Bored at home? Try these time-consuming TV shows, books, movies and games

If your life is anything like mine right now, you’re spending a lot of time at home. No trips to the movie theater. No happy hours at the bar. No date nights at your favorite restaurant. Just a lot of time parked on the couch.

Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of broadband Internet, there’s no shortage of media for entertainment during this indefinite period of self-isolation. Here are some very time-consuming TV shows, movies, books and video games to help tide you over.

TV

“The Simpsons”

"The Simpsons"

FOX

How long to finish: A bit over two weeks to watch all 679 episodes.

Where to watch: The first 30 seasons are streaming on Disney Plus, and episodes from the currently airing 31st season are available through on-demand services with a cable or satellite subscription.

What it's about: An animated family sitcom that’s maybe the funniest show ever created (at least through Season 9 or so).

“Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul”

"Breaking Bad"

AMC

How long to finish: About 4.5 days to watch all five seasons of “Breaking Bad,” the first four seasons of “Better Call Saul” and follow-up movie “El Camino.”

Where to watch: Netflix, with the exception of the currently airing fifth season of “Better Call Saul,” which is available through AMC with a cable or satellite subscription.

What it's about: “Breaking Bad” is about a high school chemistry teacher who starts making meth after learning he has terminal cancer. “Better Call Saul” is a prequel series that follows a shady lawyer from “Breaking Bad.”

“ER”

"ER"

NBC

How long to finish: A bit under two weeks to watch all 331 episodes.

Where to watch: All 15 seasons are streaming on Hulu.

What it's about: Medical drama about a constantly rotating cast of doctors doing doctor things. One of the doctors is George Clooney.

Other options

MOVIES

The Marvel Cinematic Universe

"Avengers: Endgame"

MARVEL STUDIOS

How long to finish: A bit over two days to watch all 23 films.

Where to watch: Most of the franchise is on Disney Plus, with five exceptions: “The Incredible Hulk” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming” are available only through digital rental; “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” are on Netflix; and “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is on Starz.

What it's about: Superheroes beating up bad guys, sometimes as a super-group. Also the highest-grossing movie franchise ever.

“The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"

NEW LINE PRODUCTIONS

How long to finish: A bit under 20 hours to watch the extended editions of all six films.

Where to watch: Sadly, no streaming service currently carries these movies, but they’re all available for digital rental, and both trilogies are available as physical box sets.

What it's about: Adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein’s high-fantasy epic series. I’m still not sure how “The Hobbit” — which is a shorter book than any of the three “LOTR” books — got turned into an eight-hour trilogy, but here we are.

“Star Wars”

"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"

DISNEY/LUCASFILM

How long to finish: About 25 hours to watch all 11 movies.

Where to watch: Nine of the movies are streaming on Disney Plus. “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is on Netflix, while the most recent entry in the franchise, “The Rise of Skywalker,” is available for digital rental.

What it's about: Space opera franchise that maybe only has five or six actual good movies, but at least those are really good.

Other options

The James Bond franchise (of the 24 films, two are on Hulu, four are on Netflix, and the rest are available for digital rental on Amazon), the Pixar films (although not part of a connected franchise, all 22 films — save maybe the “Cars” sequels — are worth watching; 20 of them are streaming on Disney Plus, with “Incredibles 2” on Netflix and “Onward” available to purchase digitally)

BOOKS

“The Wheel of Time” series

"The Eye of the World," the first book in "The Wheel of Time" series.

TOR BOOKS

How long to finish: A bit more than 19 days to listen to all 14 audiobooks.

Where to buy: Audiobooks and ebooks available through Amazon.

What it's about: Robert Jordan’s sprawling high-fantasy epic features thousands of characters, some of whom use magic. If you’re patient, it’s being turned into a TV series by Amazon, but production has been delayed by (you guessed it) coronavirus.

“The Dark Tower” series

"The Gunslinger," the first book in "The Dark Tower" series.

GRANT

How long to finish: A bit under six days to listen to the eight audiobooks.

Where to buy: Audiobooks and ebooks available through Amazon.

What it's about: Stephen King’s dark fantasy Western series follows the gunslinger Roland on his quest to reach a dark tower. The massive, 4,000-plus-page series was also adapted into a single 95-minute movie starring Idris Elba. It was bad.

“A Song of Ice and Fire”

"A Game of Thrones," the first book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.

BANTAM BOOKS

How long to finish: A bit more than eight days to listen to all five audiobooks.

Where to buy: Audiobooks and ebooks available through Amazon.

What it's about: George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novels served as the source for the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones.” Unlike “GoT,” Martin’s series is still incomplete. There are two books to come, and Martin is reportedly working on the sixth book in the series, “The Winds of Winter,” during his self-quarantine. But he’s been working on it for nearly a decade now, so don’t hold your breath.

Other options

Discworld (41 books), the “Harry Potter” series (seven books)

VIDEO GAMES

“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim”

"The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim"

BETHESDA SOFTWORKS

How long to finish: About 30 hours to complete the main story, plus side quests and downloadable content.

What it's about: Your chosen-one character has to traverse a massive continent to stop a world-eating dragon. But it’s cool if you wanna screw around doing side quests for 40 hours before getting to that. There are also four earlier “Elder Scrolls” games on various platforms that have about the same amount of content.

“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild"

NINTENDO

How long to finish: About 40 hours to complete the main story, plus side quests and downloadable content.

What systems it's on: Nintendo Switch.

What it's about: The latest entry in Nintendo’s long-running “Zelda” series plops you into a massive open world and tells you to defeat Ganon, with little other instruction. But it’s cool if you wanna screw around climbing mountains and practicing horseback archery for 40 hours before getting to that.

“Minecraft”

"Minecraft"

MOJANG

How long to finish: Whenever you get bored.

What systems it's on: PC, any current-generation or last-generation console, iOS and Android.

What it's about: A sandbox world where you can explore and build to your heart’s content.

Other options

9. (tie) "The Fate of the Furious"

Budget: $250 million

Worldwide box office: $1.24 billion

I love and hate the following fact: This movie, the eighth in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, had the biggest worldwide opening of all time. It made $541.9 million in its first weekend. These movies are money well spent.

9. (tie) "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"

9. (tie) “Captain America: Civil War"

Budget: $250 million

Worldwide box office: $1.15 billion

It ended up becoming the fifth-highest-grossing superhero movie of all time, behind "Iron Man 3," "Black Panther," "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and (No. 1) "The Avengers," which grossed $1.52 billion worldwide.

7. “Tangled”

6. “John Carter”

Budget: $263.7 million

Worldwide box office: $284 million

This is the fiasco on this list. The 2012 Taylor Kitsch sci-fi epic lost Disney between $100 million to $200 million, once all the other costs (marketing, distribution, etc.) were accounted for. It is, by some estimates, the biggest box office bomb of all time.

5. “Avengers: Age of Ultron”

2. (tie) “Avengers: Infinity War”

Budget: $300 million

It's looking like it will score a $500 million worldwide opening this weekend, though that would still put it behind the record-holder: Last year's "Fate of the Furious" scored a $541.9 million worldwide opening. (The world makes no sense.)

2. (tie) “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”

1. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

Budget: $378.5 million *

Worldwide box office: $1.05 billion

Yes, the most expensive movie ever made is the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. The five movies have made $4.5 billion combined.

* According to The Numbers, a movie site that tracks financial data, “Avatar” cost $425 million to make, which would make it the most expensive movie ever. But other sources estimated a lower budget, putting it behind “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

Bonus content

Some of the most expensive back-to-back movie projects.

Starting with the second two "Back to the Future" installments, Hollywood began to greenlight and make trilogies or sequels back-to-back. This was a less expensive way to tackle the projects than making the movies separately and years apart.

13 of the most expensive movies of all time

By Micah Mertes / World-Herald staff writer

Movies are expensive — especially movies in which people fly or cities are destroyed or Johnny Depp is a pirate.

"Avengers: Infinity War," in theaters this week, is actually the second-most-expensive movie ever made, coming in at an eye-popping $300 million. And that's just its production budget (marketing adds another $150 million to the price tag).

With $$$ on our minds mind, we looked into the other biggest and budget-est movies of the modern era. These are the most expensive movies ever made, followed by some of the most expensive movie series ever made back-to-back.

Note: Numbers are unadjusted for inflation.

Note 2: A lot of movies are ties.

Sources: The Numbers, Box Office Mojo

1 of 17

9. (tie) "The Fate of the Furious"

Budget: $250 million

Worldwide box office: $1.24 billion

I love and hate the following fact: This movie, the eighth in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, had the biggest worldwide opening of all time. It made $541.9 million in its first weekend. These movies are money well spent.

9. (tie) “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Budget: $250 million

Worldwide box office: $934.4 million

The most expensive of the "Potter" movies.

Warner Bros.

9. (tie) "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"

Budget: $250 million

Worldwide box office: $956 million

All those big CG armies. So expensive to render. So painful to look at.

9. (tie) “Captain America: Civil War"

Budget: $250 million

Worldwide box office: $1.15 billion

It ended up becoming the fifth-highest-grossing superhero movie of all time, behind "Iron Man 3," "Black Panther," "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and (No. 1) "The Avengers," which grossed $1.52 billion worldwide.

9. (tie) "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”

Budget: $250 million

Worldwide box office: $874 million

It was considered a box office disappointment for failing to reach $1 billion. Another fun fact about this movie: It's trash.

8. “Spider-Man 3”

Budget: $258 million

Worldwide box office: $891 million

Ugh.

7. “Tangled”

Budget: $260 million

Worldwide box office: $592 million

The most expensive (fully) animated movie ever made. It cost a lot to render all that hair.

6. “John Carter”

Budget: $263.7 million

Worldwide box office: $284 million

This is the fiasco on this list. The 2012 Taylor Kitsch sci-fi epic lost Disney between $100 million to $200 million, once all the other costs (marketing, distribution, etc.) were accounted for. It is, by some estimates, the biggest box office bomb of all time.

5. “Avengers: Age of Ultron”

Budget: $280 million

Worldwide box office: $1.4 billion

These movies just cost a lot.

2. (tie) “Avengers: Infinity War”

Budget: $300 million

It's looking like it will score a $500 million worldwide opening this weekend, though that would still put it behind the record-holder: Last year's "Fate of the Furious" scored a $541.9 million worldwide opening. (The world makes no sense.)

2. (tie) "Justice League"

Budget: $300 million

Worldwide box office: $657 million

The movie industry-tracking site Deadline estimated that the film lost Warner Bros. about $60 million by the time all the other costs (marketing, distribution, etc.) were accounted for.

2. (tie) “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”

Budget: $300 million

Worldwide box office: $963 million

The first movie to crack a $300 million budget.

1. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

Budget: $378.5 million *

Worldwide box office: $1.05 billion

Yes, the most expensive movie ever made is the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. The five movies have made $4.5 billion combined.

* According to The Numbers, a movie site that tracks financial data, “Avatar” cost $425 million to make, which would make it the most expensive movie ever. But other sources estimated a lower budget, putting it behind “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

Bonus content

Some of the most expensive back-to-back movie projects.

Starting with the second two "Back to the Future" installments, Hollywood began to greenlight and make trilogies or sequels back-to-back. This was a less expensive way to tackle the projects than making the movies separately and years apart.

“Back to the Future Part II” and “Part III” (1989–1990)

Combined budget: $80 million

Worldwide box office: $577 million

“The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” (2003) were greenlit together on the heels of the smash success of 1999's "The Matrix."

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